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INDIANAPOLIS – There’s no way to say this nicely: Orlando Brown had “historically bad” performances Thursday and Friday at the NFL Scouting Combine.

Thousands of exiting North American college football players would love to have been in the Oklahoma offensive tackle’s position this week – seen as a sure-fire first-round prospect, perhaps even a top-16 pick.

But of the 336 invitees at this year’s combine, it’s hard to imagine anyone having a worse week than Brown. He stunk it up in front of hundreds of the NFL coaches and talent evaluators gathered here.

NFL Network’s Mike Mayock had ranked Brown as his No. 2 OT in this draft, and ProFootballFocus.com determined that, in protecting QB Baker Mayfield’s left side for two years, Brown allowed only 15 QB pressures and two sacks on 793 pass drops. What’s more, Brown apparently is a well-spoken, really nice kid.

Alas, the 6-foot-8, 345-pounder might have ideal dimensions (with long, 35-inch arms) for a left tackle, but don’t be surprised if he plummets down teams’ draft boards.

On Thursday, Brown did only 14 reps on the 225-pound bench press, fewest of the 36 O-linemen. And only eight of 29 running backs benched 14 or fewer reps.

On Friday, Brown’s performances worsened. He ran by far the slowest 40-yard dash time of any OL: 5.85 seconds, “historically bad” according to Mayock. Indeed, it was the fifth-slowest 40 time recorded at the combine since 2003, and Brown’s 10-yard split time of 2.00 seconds was the worst in combine history.

Even worse, Brown vertical-jumped only 19.5 inches, compared to the 34 inches jumped by Texas tackle Connor Williams, the 33.5 by Auburn guard Braden Smith and the 26.5 by Notre Dame guard Quenton Nelson. No other OL jumped less than 23.5 inches.

At each of the above drill stations, Brown was yelled at by NFL coaches for loafing, according to NFLDraftScout.com’s Matt Miller.

“This is my seventh combine and I’ve never seen anything like that,” Miller tweeted. “We knew he wasn’t a good athlete but these numbers are concerning.”

So was at least one other result of the four other athleticism drills. Brown recorded 82.0 inches in the broad jump, when no other O-lineman leapt shorter than 94 inches, and most were in the 100-109 range; UCLA’s Kolton Miller jumped 121.0 inches.

Later Friday afternoon, Mayfield said the following at his news conference, in his passionate defence of Brown as a football player: “It’s not about the numbers. If it was I wouldn’t be standing up here anyway. Orlando is a great football player. In the locker room, he’s somebody you want to have. He’s somebody on the field that, mentally, he wants it more than everybody else.

“He’s talented, he’s fearless. He’s got that lineman mentality you want. He’s nasty when it comes to the game of football. He wants to bury that lineman in front of him … When are you ever going to watch Orlando Brown run 40 yards down the field (in a football game)? Never. So, you can watch last year’s tape and see that he gave up zero sacks. I’d say that’s pretty important for a left tackle.”

THEN THERE’S SAQUON

To no one’s surprise, Penn State’s Saquon Barkley – the top running back in this draft, and perhaps the No. 1 overall talent – sparkled in his speed and athleticism drills on Friday.

He ripped off an official time of 4.40 seconds in the 40 (with a blisteringly fast 1.54-second 10-yard split), and did a 41-inch vertical jump – this, a day after bench-pressing 29 reps of 225 pounds.

Not only did all three efforts lead all running backs here, but NFL Research tweeted that those marks respectively eclipsed the scouting-combine numbers of Joe Thomas in the bench (he did 28 in 2007), DeSean Jackson in the 10-yard split (he ran 1.55 in 2008), Devin Hester in the 40 (he ran 4.43 in 2006) and Julio Jones in the vertical (who leapt 38.5 inches in 2011).

Lastly, the only player at last year’s combine bench 25+ and vertically leap 40+ inches was Cleveland’s No. 1 overall pick, DE Myles Garrett, with 33 and 41, respectively.

NINERS WIN COIN FLIP

The NFL conducted a coin flip Friday afternoon to break the tie between San Francisco and Oakland for draft slot No. 9. The Niners won, so they’ll pick ninth, the Raiders 10th. The top eight above them, in order: Cleveland, New York Giants, Indianapolis, Cleveland, Denver, New York Jets, Tampa Bay and Chicago.

NEWSOME LOVES JANUARY

Ozzie Newsome, entering his final year as Baltimore Ravens GM before handing off to Eric DeCosta in 2019, said the whole organization is bothered by not having reached the playoffs for the third straight year. “I don’t like not playing in January,” he said, in taking questions Friday about how exactly the Ravens can go about “getting to 11 wins” again, which usually guarantees an NFL playoff berth. Newsome is the only GM in Ravens history. How does he account for his longevity? “Winning helps,” he quipped.

SEAHAWKS DISCUSSIONS

GM John Schneider admitted that he and head coach Pete Carroll “have a lot to discuss” over the next two weeks, regarding which pending free agents they want to keep and which they’ll let test the market, all in conjunction with how they view this year’s rookie draft class and free-agent pools. There has been continuing trade buzz around some Seattle players, and Schneider said you have to listen to offers. But aren’t there untouchables? “Not at this time of the year,” Schneider said.

PRICE’S PEC UPDATE

Ohio State centre Billy Price’s pectoral injury isn’t as bad as reported Thursday night. On his third rep in the bench-press drill, he suddenly stopped after feeling something pop.

At a news conference Friday morning, Price explained what happened and where it leaves him.

“I got into my warmup set. No problems, no issues. I got the first rep off. Got to the third, the bar was still doing well (then) felt a pop. I immediately racked it. Something didn’t feel right.

“It’s just a freak accident. You can’t blame or point a finger – ‘Oh, it was this.’ Or, ‘I didn’t have enough time to warm up.’ It was just a freak accident.”

An MRI and examination by the Indianapolis Colts team doctor concluded Price suffered “an incomplete pec tear. No grade, no issues like that,” he said. “Something very minor … I’ll be fine for the season going forward, and I should be fine going into training camp.”

Price said he was awaiting a second medical opinion on the MRI to officially rule out surgery. If that’s required he said he’d be out four months.

Was he relieved to learn he avoided a complete tear?

“Oh, it’s huge,” Price said. “I have no bruising … I woke up this morning and looked at it and went, ‘Oh, thank God.’ Yeah, definitely happy.”

A former long-time NFL team doctor and surgeon, David Chao, tweeted Friday that “my guess is he might still consider surgery. Last thing anyone wants is to play with half a pec and tear it completely once the season starts.”

EXTRA POINTS

Reports said Miami has agreed on a trade (which can’t be rubber-stamped until March 14) to acquire pass rusher Robert Quinn and a sixth-round draft pick from the Los Angeles Rams, for fourth- and sixth-round picks … Miami has permitted speedy WR Jarvis Landry to seek a trade. Receiver-needy Chicago reportedly is interested … New England TE Rob Gronkowski is indeed mulling retirement, his agent Drew Rosenhaus told ProFootballTalk.com on Friday. There’s no timetable on that decision, Rosenhaus said.

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